


makes me feel warm.

by Prettything_uglylie



Series: fictober 2019 [1]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Fluff, M/M, enjoy hopefully
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 13:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20892641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prettything_uglylie/pseuds/Prettything_uglylie
Summary: The Great Hall often gets cold when the winter comes despite the magic lingering in the halls that always serve to make it feel homely and as though kept on a furnace - and the fact, as Ronan insists, it should have some “fucking heating” as it’s a school where people knowingly attend with good intention.





	makes me feel warm.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is for October 1st. Yes, it was only posted the fourth! Sorry!

The Great Hall often gets cold when the winter comes despite the magic lingering in the halls that always serve to make it feel homely and as though kept on a furnace - and the fact, as Ronan insists, it should have some “fucking heating” as it’s a school where people knowingly attend with good intention.

He definitely feels the chill up his spine but he doesn’t let it get him down; simply puts on two jumpers and the mask he always has on is polished a little harder today, the type he only breaks out when trapped between Head of Auror Office Mother, his inventor Father and Head Curse-Breaker, older sister Helen Gansey - his polished smile is very, very necessary for all of these situations. 

When he left his dormitory, he was grateful - he has nothing particularly wrong with his dormmates; a passionate and loud boy named Tad Carruthers, a quiet but welcoming boy named Noah Czerny - one he has dragged into their friend group, one of Kavinsky’s dogs, Swan, is in his dorm and he had been worried but Swan had lifted his hands up in sign of surrender and Gansey had nodded in agreement and a polite, brilliant and hilarious Asian boy named Lee Squared. 

He had arrived in the Great Hall, shivering slightly but slipping into the edge of the Gryffindor table where they have stopped caring about who sits where - obviously, by their group alone; Adam Parrish and Blue Sargent both have their Ravenclaw ties around their neck, Ronan has discarded his Hufflepuff tie so Gansey assumes he has already considered it gone forever - and Gansey is grateful. 

Gansey is grateful he can see his friends all together. 

But curled at the end of the table, knees pulled to his chest as he attempts to listen to the conversation but his mind keeps dragging itself away from their voices. Their voices may wrap around him like a warm blanket to counteract the cool air of the Great Hall but he can’t bring his mind back down to the actual conversation, head feeling too fuzzy but - 

But a hand settles on his shoulder and Gansey doesn’t jump. His mind reminds himself to keep his composure - at the worst of times, you still at least have your composure - but his head still swings around, a false mile-wide smile that despite him knowing Blue despises it, he can’t risk letting it slide from his mouth, to set eyes onto Henry Cheng. 

With a weird feeling of drama in the air, their table has fallen silent. Adam still sits so close to Ronan that Gansey is surprised he hasn’t given up to just straddle Ronan instead and Blue and Noah’s conversation has stopped in their tracks as well - Gansey, on muscle memory, knows she reaches up to fiddle with the wand through her hair bun without looking away from Henry. 

See, he doesn’t know Henry terribly well; he’s in their year, seems to be a good bloke and is a Ravenclaw like Adam and Blue. He’s also quite attractive if Gansey has to be completely honest. A sharp jawline and wild, spiky hair, Gansey assumes, wouldn’t work for anyone else for him but… but Henry Cheng does certainly do it for Gansey. 

Whatever it is, Gansey is uncertain. 

But Blue is not uncertain - Blue does not question to call Tad out for being an entitled prick, Blue did not hesitate to pull her wand on Kavinsky when he threatened Matthew Lynch, Blue did not hesitate to clutch him by the collars and tell him bluntly that he needs to find himself before they could ever have anything again; he prefers being her friend - and she aims larger than Gansey so with, if his muscle memory is correct, an eyebrow raised, she skeptically greets Henry, “Hey, Cheng. What’s up?”

Henry’s cheeks flush a bit in a way that Gansey doesn’t think most people would notice unless watching his portrait-worthy face carefully and when a bashful smile takes over the Asian boy’s lips, Gansey feels his heart drop: that’s what this is. It’s falling in love. 

“Just going to borrow Richard-Man here, if that’s alright?” His voice is deep but without gravel, his smile kind without deception and his hands strong without abuse; Gansey can safely say that he hasn’t met many quite like him. His voice is steady and calming like Gansey remembers one of his father’s muggle friends, Professor Malory, sailboats rocking across the ocean once, and it makes Gansey feel both skittish and nervous. He doesn’t like situations that make him feel a stranger in his own body. 

He nods though. He hands Henry Cheng a relaxed steady smile as though it is his heart torn from his chest and stitched up in a little box with a note that says _ ‘handle with care’ _ in handwriting Ronan makes fun of him for having - including and not limited to, “It looks like your sister writes your notes, man!”. Gansey does a quick survey to his friends before agreeing, “Yes, of course. One minute, lads.” 

Ronan looks unsure how to proceed with what is happening - guard dog, Kavinsky’s voice reminds in his head and he shoos it away as quickly as he can -, Adam looks a little too calm, sipping his likely-to-be Camomille tea, Blue is watching protectively and Noah has a brilliant smile across his face. That’s the difference, he suspects to himself as he throws his legs over the bench to stand, Ronan is all teeth and bite, all obvious aggression where Blue is snarky comments and planned attacks, all in the name of protection. He is beyond grateful for both of them. 

And Adam and Noah, of course, he reminds, a ring in his ears when thinking that he could have forgotten them; Adam has the confidence and faith to trust him to make his own decisions and Gansey is beyond grateful, Adam is all sure intelligence, some estimation to solve his problems but all stemming from knowledge. Gansey listens to Adam more than he listens to his own parents. Adam’s word is the closest to God Gansey has ever known. 

Noah is all smiling optimism. He’s their beacon of hope; with Ronan’s jaded-edges, Blue’s witty mind and Adam’s confident intuition, Noah is their source of glee and window of hope towards something a little more naive and purer… 

** _[ Three months after this event, Gansey and his friends will hear the story, a story of a boy named Noah Czerny who was killed and remains as a ghost in Hogwarts’ grounds, bound to live in these walls forever. Their beacon of light; youthful dead; the good die young; but that is the future, hindsight is 20/20, as they say. ] _ **

His steps are even if not in time - he loses the balance of his steps when he sees Henry’s friends, known as Vancouver Crew, smiling and watching them. It makes him nervous but he focuses on the sound of his shoes against the tile - his shoes are another thing Blue hates about him and some days, the list feels endless and he wants to scream _ what do you like about me? _ but he knows she loves him, in the same breath. 

“You look cold,” Henry says and it’s not a judgment, just an observation. His voice feels too warm for judgment but Gansey doesn’t want to put it by him to hate him for being dumb or to think he’s a creep but when the cold - freezing, if Gansey is honest - air touches his face, he is more alarmed than ever. 

What does Henry want of him? 

But Henry turns on his heel, tucking them behind one of the marble pillars and Gansey aches to reach out and touch him. His hands are spindly, scrawny and torn at in a way not unlike Adam’s but he doubts that Henry’s are from Mugglework; his jaw is sharp, layered like a blade and Gansey aches to slice his hand on it, to watch his blood drip down from Gansey’s jaw like it is a sacrifice, like these boys are somehow crafted for war. His eyes are warm, glistening chestnut color and he… he looks warm. 

Gansey has been cold for so long. 

“We haven’t really talked a lot,” Henry starts and if Gansey didn’t know any better, he would assume that Henry is nervous but since he has watched the other boy openly and loudly flirt with Blue, Noah, and Adam, he doesn’t believe Henry really has the ability to be nervous. “But I really like you-” 

He chokes. Does Henry like him? As more than a friend or a necessary presence? He chokes and he’s dying and his head is a mile a minute but Henry smiles at him, a sweet falsity of a thing. 

“And I was wondering if you’d like to go to the Yule Ball with me?” Henry finishes and does what Gansey can’t believe he didn’t garner the confidence to do himself, he reaches up to brush his hand against Gansey’s cheekbone with a great amount of fondness. 

Gansey is quiet for a moment too long before his brain kicks into drive, “Yeah! Absolutely, I’d love that!” 

“Great.” Henry smiles widely before looking awkward and rocking back and forth on his heels, “Wanna be my boyfriend while we’re at it, Gansey boy?” 

Gansey smiled but felt a bit like it was slightly too soon before they got to the dating stage and he admits softly, “Think we have to wait a little longer for that…” 

Henry smiles before nodding and agreeing, “Yeah, that’s fair.” 

Gansey leans in though, heart pounding in his chest to press his lips against Henry’s cheek before saying, “I’m freezing…” 

Henry laughs, nodding understandingly but he clutches at the sleeve of Gansey’s Gryffindor jumper, “See you in the restricted section of the library then?” 

Their intertwined laugh makes Gansey feel warm inside. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please enjoy and comment maybe?


End file.
